II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 959 

To improve outcomes for students in persistently low-performing schools, 

to create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, and replicating educational 

excellence, to authorize school turnaround grants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2011 

Mrs. HAGAN (for herself and Mr. LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To improve outcomes for students in persistently low-performing schools, to create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, and replicating educational excellence, to authorize school turnaround grants, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Turnaround 

5 and Rewards Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘STAR Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to— 


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1 (1) significantly improve outcomes for students 

2 in persistently low-performing schools by— 

3 (A) building the capacity of State edu4 cational agencies and local educational agencies 

5 to improve student academic achievement in 

6 low-performing and persistently low-performing 

7 schools; 

8 (B) supporting States and local edu9 cational agencies in implementing school inter10 vention models; and 

11 (C) targeting State and local supports and 

12 strategies on the persistently lowest-performing 

13 schools in each State; and 

14 (2) create a culture of recognizing, rewarding, 

15 and replicating educational excellence in every State 

16 by— 

17 (A) providing financial and other incen18 tives and rewards to schools that are identified 

19 as Reward Schools; and 

20 (B) supporting State educational agency 

21 efforts to identify, collect, and disseminate ef22 fective practices for increasing student aca23 demic achievement used by Reward Schools. 


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1 TITLE I—ADDITIONAL 

2 ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS 

3 SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROVISIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Elementary and Secondary 

5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amend6 ed by inserting after section 1116 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1116A. REWARD SCHOOLS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 1116 or 

9 any other provision of this part, each State educational 

10 agency that receives funds under this part shall identify 

11 Reward Schools in the State and take the actions de12 scribed with respect to those schools, in accordance with 

13 this section. 

14 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF REWARD SCHOOLS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational 

16 agency that receives funds under this part shall an17 nually identify as Reward Schools public elementary 

18 schools or secondary schools served by the State that 

19 are making significant progress, as determined by 

20 the State educational agency, in closing the achieve21 ment gap and increasing student academic achieve22 ment, student growth, and, at the high school level, 

23 graduation rates, for students in the aggregate and 

24 for 1 or more subgroups of students identified under 

25 section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II). 


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1 ‘‘(2) REWARD SCHOOLS.—Each school that is 

2 identified as a Reward School under paragraph 

3 (1)— 

4 ‘‘(A) is eligible for recognition and rewards 

5 under subsection (c); and 

6 ‘‘(B) may use funds provided under this 

7 Act, except for those funds related to serving 

8 special populations under parts C and D of title 

9 I, title III, and title VII, in a comprehensive 

10 and coordinated manner, to design innovative 

11 programs consistent with the requirements of 

12 title IX. 

13 ‘‘(c) REWARD SCHOOLS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) ALLOTMENTS; ALLOCATION TO STATES.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

16 ‘‘(i) ALLOTMENT.—In accordance 

17 with clause (ii), the Secretary shall allot 

18 among each of the 50 States, the District 

19 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

20 Rico, and the Secretary of the Interior for 

21 programs under this subsection in schools 

22 operated or funded by the Bureau of In23 dian Education, the total amount made 

24 available to carry out this subsection under 


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1 paragraph (6) for any fiscal year, to carry 

2 out activities under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATION OF ALLOT4 MENTS.—The Secretary shall use the 

5 amount made available under clause (i) for 

6 a fiscal year to award a grant to each enti7 ty described in clause (i) in an amount 

8 that bears the same relation to such 

9 amount made available under clause (i) as 

10 the amount the entity received under this 

11 part for the preceding fiscal year bears to 

12 the amount received by all the entities de13 scribed in clause (i) under this part for the 

14 preceding fiscal year. 

15 ‘‘(B) REALLOTMENT.—If an entity de16 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) does not receive 

17 funds under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

18 reallot those funds to other entities described in 

19 subparagraph (A)(i) in the same proportion in 

20 which funds are allotted under subparagraph 

21 (A). 

22 ‘‘(2) STATE APPLICATION.—Each State edu23 cational agency desiring to receive a grant under 

24 this subsection shall submit an application to the 

25 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and conVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:18 May 18, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S959.IS S959

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1 taining such information as the Secretary may re2 quire. At a minimum, each application shall in3 clude— 

4 ‘‘(A) a description of how the State edu5 cational agency will distribute funds under this 

6 program, by formula or through a competitive 

7 process, to local educational agencies serving 

8 Reward Schools identified under subsection (b); 

9 ‘‘(B) a description of how the State edu10 cational agency will take into account poverty 

11 rates within local educational agencies and 

12 schools proposed to be served when distributing 

13 funds under this program; 

14 ‘‘(C) an assurance that the State edu15 cational agency will provide rewards and incen16 tives under this subsection that are large 

17 enough to motivate changes in behavior by 

18 schools throughout the State; 

19 ‘‘(D) a description of how the State edu20 cational agency will identify, collect, and dis21 seminate information on effective practices for 

22 increasing student achievement that are used by 

23 the Reward Schools and how the State will cre24 ate communities of practice among Reward 

25 Schools, in order to share best practices and 


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1 replicate successful strategies to assist lower2 performing schools and districts; and 

3 ‘‘(E) a description of how the State will 

4 create mentoring partnerships between Reward 

5 Schools and other schools and local educational 

6 agencies in the State. 

7 ‘‘(3) STATE USE OF FUNDS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) STATE RESERVATION.—A State edu9 cational agency that receives a grant under 

10 paragraph (1) shall use not less than 90 per11 cent of the grant funds to make subgrants to 

12 local educational agencies serving Reward 

13 Schools to carry out the activities described in 

14 paragraph (4). 

15 ‘‘(B) STATE ACTIVITIES.—A State edu16 cational agency that receives a grant under 

17 paragraph (1) shall use any portion of its grant 

18 funds that it does not use under subparagraph 

19 (A) to carry out activities, which may include 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) Identifying, collecting, and dis22 seminating information on effective prac23 tices that are used by Reward Schools to 

24 increase student achievement. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Supporting mentoring partner2 ships between Reward Schools and other 

3 schools and local educational agencies. 

4 ‘‘(iii) Creating communities of prac5 tice among Reward Schools. 

6 ‘‘(iv) Administration of this sub7 section. 

8 ‘‘(4) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

9 AGENCIES.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—From funds available 

11 under paragraph (3), a State educational agen12 cy shall make 1-year subgrants to local edu13 cational agencies serving Reward Schools. 

14 ‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES.—A local educational 

15 agency that receives a subgrant under this sub16 section shall use the funds— 

17 ‘‘(i) to provide financial rewards for 

18 principals, teachers, and other staff in Re19 ward Schools; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) to provide financial rewards to 

21 Reward Schools, which may be used at the 

22 school’s discretion, including for financial 

23 rewards or to improve or enrich the 

24 school’s or local educational agency’s pro25 gram. 


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1 ‘‘(5) OTHER REWARDS FOR REWARD

2 SCHOOLS.—A local educational agency may provide 

3 Reward Schools with increased flexibility in making 

4 budgeting and staffing decisions, by— 

5 ‘‘(A) providing Reward Schools with pri6 ority in receiving Federal or State funds; 

7 ‘‘(B) reducing reporting requirements of 

8 Reward Schools; or 

9 ‘‘(C) taking other actions to provide Re10 ward Schools with greater autonomy. 

11 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

13 this subsection $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 

14 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

15 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

16 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

17 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

18 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

19 to section 1116 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 1116A. Reward schools.’’. 

20 TITLE II—SCHOOL 

21 TURNAROUND GRANTS 

22 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 

23 The terms used in this title have the meanings given 

24 the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Sec25 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 


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1 SEC. 202. IDENTIFICATION OF PERSISTENTLY LOW-PER2 FORMING SCHOOLS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State educational agency 

4 that receives funds under part A of title I of the Elemen5 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 6311 et seq.) shall annually identify as a Persistently 

7 Low-Performing School a public elementary school or sec8 ondary school that, based on the percentage of students 

9 scoring at or above the proficient level in each of the sub10 jects included in a State’s accountability system under 

11 such part, is not making progress and— 

12 (1) if the school is an elementary school, is in 

13 the bottom 5 percent of the State’s public elemen14 tary schools; 

15 (2) if the school is a secondary school that does 

16 not award a high school diploma, is in the bottom 

17 5 percent of the State’s public secondary schools 

18 that do not award a high school diploma; or 

19 (3) if the school is a secondary school that does 

20 award a high school diploma, is in the bottom 5 per21 cent of the State’s public secondary schools that 

22 award a high school diploma or has a graduation 

23 rate below 60 percent, or both. 

24 (b) RANKING.— 

25 (1) SCHOOLS THAT DO NOT AWARD HIGH

26 SCHOOL DIPLOMAS.—To determine if a school that 


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1 does not award a high school diploma is a Persist2 ently Low-Performing School, the State educational 

3 agency shall, not less frequently than once every 3 

4 years, rank all such public elementary schools and 

5 secondary schools served by the State on the basis 

6 of the combined or averaged percentages across sub7 jects of students who are proficient or above on the 

8 reading or language arts and mathematics assess9 ments required under section 1111(b)(3) of the Ele10 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

11 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)). 

12 (2) SCHOOLS THAT AWARD HIGH SCHOOL DI13 PLOMAS.—To determine if a school that awards a 

14 high school diploma is a Persistently Low-Per15 forming school, the State educational agency shall, 

16 not less frequently than once every 3 years, rank all 

17 such schools on the basis of— 

18 (A) the combined or averaged percentages 

19 across subjects of students who are proficient 

20 or above on the reading or language arts and 

21 mathematics assessments required by section 

22 1111(b)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary 

23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)); 

24 and 


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1 (B) the graduation rate, with such rate 

2 given weight equal to the weight of the factor 

3 described in subparagraph (A). 

4 (c) SCHOOLS MAKING PROGRESS.—The State edu5 cational agency shall not identify as a Persistently Low6 Performing school a school that is making significant 

7 progress as defined by the State, subject to any limitations 

8 specified in regulation by the Secretary. 

9 (d) NO IDENTIFICATION OF CERTAIN SCHOOLS.— 

10 The State may choose not to identify those schools in 

11 which the total number of students assessed is below the 

12 minimum group size used by the State to ensure the valid13 ity and reliability of State assessments or to protect the 

14 privacy of individual students. 

15 (e) SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODELS.—Each local 

16 educational agency that serves a school identified as a Per17 sistently Low-Performing School under this section and 

18 receives a grant under this title shall select and implement 

19 1 of the 4 school intervention models described in section 

20 207 in such school, and provide for family and community 

21 engagement in the choice and implementation of the model 

22 selected in each case. 

23 SEC. 203. RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENTS. 

24 (a) RESERVATION FOR ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL

25 SIGNIFICANCE.—From the total amount appropriated 


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1 under section 208 for a fiscal year, the Secretary may re2 serve not more than 10 percent to carry out activities of 

3 national significance, such as— 

4 (1) building State and local educational agency 

5 turnaround capacity, including through technical as6 sistance and support, identification and dissemina7 tion of best practices, and facilitating the creation 

8 and operation of communities of practice; 

9 (2) supporting the use of school quality review 

10 teams by making grants to State educational agen11 cies, consortia of such agencies, or partnerships of 

12 State educational agencies or State consortia and 

13 public or private nonprofit organizations to develop 

14 and implement school quality review teams that re15 view and provide support and technical assistance to 

16 local educational agencies and schools for activities 

17 such as expanded learning time; 

18 (3) identifying and disseminating effective rural 

19 turnaround practices, making available targeted 

20 technical assistance, and expanding the availability 

21 and capacity of turnaround partners that operate in 

22 rural areas; 

23 (4) identifying schools and school improvement 

24 partners that are effectively implementing school 

25 intervention models and other effective strategies to 


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1 improve schools, and making information on those 

2 schools available to State educational agencies, local 

3 educational agencies, and schools in a manner that 

4 facilitates replication of effective practices; and 

5 (5) other activities designed to support State 

6 and local efforts to turn around persistently low-per7 forming schools. 

8 (b) ALLOTMENT TO STATES.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

10 (A) ALLOTMENT.—In accordance with sub11 paragraph (B), the Secretary shall allot among 

12 each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 

13 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the outlying 

14 areas, and the Secretary of the Interior for pro15 grams under this title in schools operated or 

16 funded by the Bureau of Indian Education, the 

17 total amount made available to carry out this 

18 title under section 208 for any fiscal year and 

19 not reserved under subsection (a), to carry out 

20 activities under this title. 

21 (B) DETERMINATION OF ALLOTMENTS.— 

22 The Secretary shall use the amount made avail23 able under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year 

24 to award a grant to each entity described in 

25 subparagraph (A) in an amount that bears the 


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1 same relation to such amount made available 

2 under subparagraph (A) as the amount the en3 tity received under part A of title I of the Ele4 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

5 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) for the preceding fis6 cal year bears to the amount received by all the 

7 entities described in subparagraph (A) under 

8 such part for the preceding fiscal year. 

9 (2) REALLOTMENT.—If an entity described in 

10 paragraph (1)(A) does not receive funds under this 

11 title, the Secretary shall reallot those funds to other 

12 entities described in paragraph (1)(A) in the same 

13 proportion in which funds are allotted under para14 graph (1). 

15 SEC. 204. APPLICATION. 

16 Each State educational agency that desires to receive 

17 a grant under this title shall submit an application to the 

18 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 

19 such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

20 At a minimum, each application shall include— 

21 (1) a copy of the application form and instruc22 tions that the State will use in making competitive 

23 subgrants under this title; 


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1 (2) the criteria the State educational agency 

2 will use to determine whether each eligible applicant 

3 applying for a subgrant under section 206— 

4 (A) has analyzed the needs of each school 

5 the eligible applicant seeks to serve and has se6 lected an appropriate intervention model; 

7 (B) has the capacity to implement fully 

8 and effectively the selected school intervention 

9 model; and 

10 (C) has submitted a budget that includes 

11 sufficient funds to implement fully and effec12 tively the selected school intervention model; 

13 (3) a description of how the State educational 

14 agency will set priorities for subgrants if the State 

15 educational agency does not have sufficient funds to 

16 support all persistently low-performing schools that 

17 eligible applicants have applied to serve; 

18 (4) the criteria the State educational agency 

19 will use to determine the quality of applications the 

20 State educational agency receives; 

21 (5) a description of how the State educational 

22 agency will— 

23 (A) monitor each subgrantee to ensure 

24 that the subgrantee is fully and effectively im25 plementing the selected school intervention 


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1 model and is improving student achievement 

2 and making progress on leading indicators; and 

3 (B) communicate to each subgrantee in a 

4 timely fashion about what expectations the 

5 State has for the subgrantee to make progress; 

6 (6) a description of how the State educational 

7 agency, subject to section 205(b)(1), will use the 

8 funds it reserves at the State level to provide tech9 nical assistance and other support to subgrantees; 

10 and 

11 (7) a description of how the State will— 

12 (A) help develop pipelines of teachers and 

13 leaders trained for turnaround schools; 

14 (B) collect and report data that inform the 

15 work of subgrantees; 

16 (C) encourage the clustering of turnaround 

17 schools under a turnaround office or other lead 

18 turnaround partner; 

19 (D) support effective extended learning 

20 time strategies; and 

21 (E) build capacity in the State educational 

22 agency for assisting turnaround schools. 

23 SEC. 205. STATE USE OF FUNDS. 

24 (a) STATE RESERVATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), a State educational agency that receives 

3 a grant under section 203(b) shall use not less than 

4 90 percent of the grant funds to make competitive 

5 subgrants to eligible applicants under section 206 to 

6 carry out the purposes of this title. 

7 (2) EXCEPTION FOR SCHOOL TAKEN OVER BY

8 THE STATE.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a 

9 State may, subject to regulations of the Secretary, 

10 reserve from the amount to be used to make sub11 grants under paragraph (1) such funds as are nec12 essary to implement a school intervention model, ei13 ther directly or through a turnaround partner des14 ignated by the State, in a school that has been taken 

15 over by the State. 

16 (b) STATE ACTIVITIES.—A State educational agency 

17 that receives a grant under section 203(b) shall use any 

18 portion of the grant funds that the State educational agen19 cy does not use to make subgrants under subsection (a) 

20 to carry out activities designed to build State capacity to 

21 support school improvement. These activities may in22 clude— 

23 (1) providing technical assistance and other 

24 support, either directly, or through the creation of a 

25 school turnaround office, or through turnaround 


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1 partners, to eligible applicants, which may include 

2 the use of school quality review teams or regular site 

3 visits to monitor the implementation of selected 

4 models; 

5 (2) evaluating State and local implementation 

6 of school intervention models and other improvement 

7 activities, and using the results to improve State 

8 strategies for supporting and providing flexibility for 

9 targeted schools; 

10 (3) providing subgrants to turnaround partners 

11 and expanded learning time partners to enable the 

12 partners to increase their capacity to help turn 

13 around schools; 

14 (4) developing pipelines of teachers and leaders 

15 trained for turnaround schools; 

16 (5) collecting and reporting data that inform 

17 the work of subgrantees; 

18 (6) clustering turnaround schools; and 

19 (7) building capacity in the State educational 

20 agency for assisting turnaround schools. 

21 SEC. 206. SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS. 

22 (a) AUTHORITY.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the funds available 

24 under section 205(a), a State educational agency 


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1 shall make subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eli2 gible applicants. 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—In this title, the 

4 term ‘‘eligible applicant’’ means— 

5 (A) a local educational agency that receives 

6 funds under part A of title I of the Elementary 

7 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

8 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) and serves at least 1 per9 sistently low-performing school; or 

10 (B) a local educational agency described in 

11 subparagraph (A) in partnership with a turn12 around partner or an expanded learning time 

13 partner, or both, with experience supporting 

14 successful school turnaround efforts. 

15 (b) DURATION.—A State educational agency— 

16 (1) shall award subgrants under this section for 

17 a period of not more than 3 years; and 

18 (2) may extend such a subgrant for an addi19 tional 2-year period if the State educational agency 

20 determines that schools served by the subgrantee are 

21 making significant progress, as described in sub22 section (h). 

23 (c) CRITERIA.—Subgrants awarded under this sec24 tion shall be of sufficient size to enable subgrantees to imVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:18 May 18, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S959.IS S959

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1 plement the selected intervention model fully and effec2 tively. 

3 (d) APPLICATION.—In order to receive a subgrant 

4 under this section, an eligible applicant shall submit an 

5 application to the State educational agency at such time, 

6 in such form, and including such information as the State 

7 educational agency may reasonably require. Each applica8 tion shall include, at a minimum— 

9 (1) a description of the process the applicant 

10 has used for selecting an appropriate school inter11 vention model for each school to be served (which 

12 process shall include family and community input as 

13 to which of the school intervention models is most 

14 likely to improve student achievement), including 

15 how the applicant has analyzed the needs of each 

16 such school; 

17 (2) the school intervention model to be used in 

18 each school to be served and the timeline for imple19 menting the selected school intervention model in 

20 each school to be served; 

21 (3) a detailed budget covering the grant period, 

22 including planned expenditures at the school level 

23 and by the eligible applicant for activities supporting 

24 full and effective implementation of the selected 

25 intervention model; 


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1 (4) a description of how the eligible applicant 

2 will— 

3 (A) design and implement interventions 

4 consistent with the requirements of the selected 

5 school intervention model, including how the ap6 plicant will use appropriate leading indicators 

7 and student achievement measures to monitor 

8 the effectiveness of implementation; 

9 (B) use a rigorous review process to re10 cruit, screen, and select turnaround partners 

11 with which the local educational agency will 

12 partner; 

13 (C) align other Federal, State, and local 

14 resources with the interventions; 

15 (D) modify practices and policies, if nec16 essary, to provide operational flexibility that en17 ables full and effective implementation of the 

18 selected school intervention model; 

19 (E) collect and use data on an ongoing 

20 basis to adjust implementation of the school 

21 intervention model during implementation 

22 (while maintaining consistency with the require23 ments of section 207) in order to achieve the 

24 desired outcomes; 


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1 (F) ensure that the implementation of the 

2 school intervention model addresses the needs 

3 of all subgroups described in section 

4 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the Elementary and 

5 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 6311(b)(2)(C)(v)(II)) in each school to be 

7 served; and 

8 (G) sustain successful reforms and prac9 tices after the funding period ends; 

10 (5) a description of the technical assistance and 

11 other support that the eligible applicant will provide 

12 to ensure effective implementation of intervention 

13 models in eligible schools, which may include— 

14 (A) assistance in data analysis; 

15 (B) recruiting staff; 

16 (C) teacher evaluation; 

17 (D) professional development; 

18 (E) coordination of services to address stu19 dents’ social, emotional, and health needs; 

20 (F) facilitating the creation and operation 

21 of professional learning communities and com22 munities of practice; and 

23 (G) progress monitoring; 

24 (6) an assurance that each school the applicant 

25 proposes to serve will receive all of the State and 


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1 local funds it would have received in the absence of 

2 these funds; and 

3 (7) a description of how the eligible applicant 

4 will strengthen its capacity improvement for the im5 plementation of intervention models, including 

6 through partnerships with entities that have dem7 onstrated the ability to effectively support school im8 provement efforts. 

9 (e) PRIORITY.—In making subgrants under this sec10 tion, a State educational agency shall give priority to an 

11 eligible applicant if the applicant— 

12 (1) demonstrates that it has a sufficient pool of 

13 effective educators within or outside the local edu14 cational agency to staff low-performing schools or a 

15 comprehensive plan to recruit retain, reward, and 

16 improve staff using comprehensive evaluation sys17 tems; 

18 (2) demonstrates the support of school manage19 ment, teachers, parents, community partners, and 

20 public stakeholders to implement strategies de21 scribed in section 207; 

22 (3) demonstrates a commitment to an expanded 

23 school day, expanded school week, or expanded 

24 school year schedule that increases the total number 

25 of school hours for the school year at a school by not 


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1 fewer than 300 hours (which shall include hours in 

2 which a student is engaged in academic activities, 

3 experiential learning, work-based learning, and en4 richment) and that includes a strong partnership 

5 with a quality expanded learning time partner; 

6 (4) demonstrates that the school leaders serving 

7 the school that will be supported through the 

8 subgrant, have sufficient flexibility in making budg9 eting, staffing, and program decisions; and 

10 (5) demonstrates the ability to collect, report, 

11 and use data to inform decisionmaking and to target 

12 resources at the school level. 

13 (f) LOCAL ACTIVITIES.—An eligible applicant that 

14 receives a subgrant under this section— 

15 (1) shall use the subgrant funds to implement 

16 1 or more of the school intervention models de17 scribed in section 207 in persistently low-performing 

18 schools; and 

19 (2) may use such funds to carry out local edu20 cational agency-level activities that directly support 

21 the implementation of the school intervention model 

22 selected for implementation, such as— 

23 (A) carrying out pre-implementation activi24 ties at the school or local educational agency 

25 level during the school year prior to the school 


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1 year in which the local educational agency will 

2 fully implement the school intervention model; 

3 (B) recruiting effective teachers and prin4 cipals for the schools at which the local edu5 cational agency will fully implement the school 

6 intervention model; 

7 (C) implementing a rigorous process to 

8 evaluate the quality of charter management or9 ganizations or education management organiza10 tions applying to operate restart schools as de11 scribed in section 206; 

12 (D) developing rigorous, transparent, and 

13 equitable teacher and principal evaluation sys14 tems; or 

15 (E) in the case of a school closing, estab16 lishing and supporting a local transition team, 

17 composed of parents from both the closing 

18 school community and any receiving school 

19 community, to ensure a smooth transition and 

20 mutual academic benefit for all students as a 

21 result of the school closing. 

22 (g) REPORTING.—Each eligible applicant that re23 ceives a subgrant under this section shall— 

24 (1) comply with the reporting and account25 ability requirements of part A of title I of the EleVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:18 May 18, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S959.IS S959

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1 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

2 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) for each of the schools the eli3 gible applicant serves with subgrant funds; and 

4 (2) monitor and report data that include, with 

5 respect to students served by the applicant with 

6 grant funds received under this section— 

7 (A) core academic indicators, such as— 

8 (i) percentage of students at or above 

9 each proficiency level on State assessments 

10 in reading or language arts and mathe11 matics; 

12 (ii) progress toward core academic 

13 benchmarks, as determined under the 

14 State’s accountability system; 

15 (iii) average scale scores on State as16 sessments in reading or language arts and 

17 in mathematics; 

18 (iv) percentage of English language 

19 learner students who attain English lan20 guage proficiency on the State’s summative 

21 language assessments; 

22 (v) graduation rates; and 

23 (vi) college enrollment rates, including 

24 data for all students and for all subgroups 

25 of students identified under section 


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1 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II) of the Elementary 

2 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(C)(v)(II)); and 

4 (B) leading indicators such as— 

5 (i) student attendance rates; 

6 (ii) number and percentage of stu7 dents completing advanced coursework; 

8 (iii) student participation rates on 

9 State assessments in reading or language 

10 arts and mathematics; 

11 (iv) dropout rates; 

12 (v) discipline incident rates; 

13 (vi) teacher attendance rates; 

14 (vii) distribution of teachers by per15 formance level on the applicant’s teacher 

16 evaluation system; and 

17 (viii) reduction in the percentage of 

18 students in the bottom level of achievement 

19 on State assessments in reading or lan20 guage arts and mathematics, including 

21 data for all students and all subgroups of 

22 students identified under such section 

23 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II). 

24 (h) ACCOUNTABILITY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible applicant that 

2 receives a subgrant under this section shall dem3 onstrate sufficient progress, as defined by the State, 

4 on the core academic indicators and leading indica5 tors described in subsection (g). 

6 (2) ADDITIONAL TWO-YEAR GRANT PERIOD FOR

7 SUFFICIENT PROGRESS.—An eligible applicant that 

8 makes sufficient progress, as described under para9 graph (1) and determined by the State educational 

10 agency, shall be eligible for an extension of the ap11 plicant’s subgrant for an additional 2-year period. 

12 (3) INSUFFICIENT PROGRESS.—An eligible ap13 plicant that does not make sufficient progress, as 

14 described under paragraph (1) and determined by 

15 the State educational agency, shall be required to— 

16 (A) modify its existing school intervention 

17 model; 

18 (B) restart the school using the restart 

19 model described in section 207(a)(2); or 

20 (C) close the school using the school clo21 sure model described in section 207(a)(3). 

22 SEC. 207. SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODELS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible applicant that re24 ceives a subgrant under section 206 may choose to imple25 ment any 1 of the following 4 school intervention models: 


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1 (1) TRANSFORMATION MODEL.—A trans2 formation model is one in which the local edu3 cational agency— 

4 (A) if the principal has led the school for 

5 2 or more years, replaces the principal with a 

6 new principal who has demonstrated effective7 ness in turning around a low-performing school; 

8 (B) uses rigorous, transparent, and equi9 table evaluation systems to— 

10 (i) identify and reward school leaders, 

11 teachers, and other staff who, in imple12 menting the model, increase student 

13 achievement and, if applicable, high school 

14 graduation rates; and 

15 (ii) identify and remove school lead16 ers, teachers, and other staff who, after 

17 ample opportunities have been provided for 

18 such individuals to improve their profes19 sional practice— 

20 (I) do not increase student 

21 achievement; 

22 (II) if applicable, do not increase 

23 high school graduation rates; and 


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1 (III) have not demonstrated ef2 fectiveness according to the local edu3 cational agency’s evaluation system; 

4 (C) provides staff with ongoing, high-qual5 ity, job-embedded professional development that 

6 is aligned with the school’s instructional pro7 gram and evaluation system and facilitates ef8 fective teaching and learning, and supports the 

9 implementation of school-reform strategies; 

10 (D) implements strategies, such as finan11 cial incentives, increased opportunities for pro12 motion and career growth, and more flexible 

13 work conditions that are designed to recruit, 

14 place, and retain staff with the skills necessary 

15 to meet the needs of the students in the school; 

16 (E) uses data to identify and implement a 

17 research-based instructional program that— 

18 (i) is aligned with State challenging 

19 academic content standards and chal20 lenging student academic achievement 

21 standards; and 

22 (ii) has proven to raise student aca23 demic achievement by not less than 10 per24 cent in 1 year; 


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1 (F) establishes schedules and strategies 

2 that provide increased learning time, which may 

3 include offering full-day kindergarten or a high4 quality preschool program or using a longer 

5 school day, week, or year that increases the 

6 total number of school hours for the school year 

7 at a school by not fewer than 300 hours to sig8 nificantly increase the total number of school 

9 hours to include additional time for— 

10 (i) instruction in core academic sub11 jects, instructions in such core academic 

12 subjects as, English, reading or language 

13 arts, mathematics, science, foreign lan14 guages, civics and government, economics, 

15 arts, history, and geography; and 

16 (ii) instruction in other subjects and 

17 enrichment activities that contribute to a 

18 well-rounded education, such as physical 

19 education, service learning, and experien20 tial and work-based learning opportunities 

21 that are provided by partnering, as appro22 priate, with other organizations; 

23 (G) promotes the continuous use of stu24 dent data to provide instruction that meets the 

25 academic needs of individual students, which 


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1 may include, in elementary school, individual 

2 students’ levels of school readiness; 

3 (H) establishes schedules and strategies 

4 that provide increased learning time, which may 

5 include expanding the school program to offer 

6 full-day kindergarten or a high-quality pre7 school program; 

8 (I) provides ongoing mechanisms for family 

9 and community engagement; 

10 (J) gives the school sufficient operational 

11 flexibility in programming, staffing, budgeting, 

12 and scheduling to fully implement a comprehen13 sive strategy designed to substantially improve 

14 student achievement and, if applicable, increase 

15 the graduation rate; 

16 (K) ensures that the school receives ongo17 ing, intensive technical assistance and related 

18 support from the local educational agency, the 

19 State educational agency, or a designated exter20 nal lead partner organization; and 

21 (L) provides appropriate social-emotional 

22 and community-oriented services and supports 

23 for students and, at the discretion of the local 

24 educational agency, uses not more than 10 per25 cent of the funds available for such school 


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1 under this part to provide services to meet 

2 those needs. 

3 (2) RESTART MODEL.—A restart model is one 

4 in which the local educational agency— 

5 (A) converts a school or closes and reopens 

6 the school— 

7 (i) under a charter school operator, a 

8 charter management organization, or an 

9 education management organization; or 

10 (ii) as an autonomous or redesigned 

11 school; 

12 (B) implements a rigorous review process 

13 to select such a charter school operator, charter 

14 management organization, or education man15 agement organization, as applicable, which in16 cludes an assurance from such operator or or17 ganization that it will make significant changes 

18 in the leadership and staffing of the school; and 

19 (C) enrolls in the school, within the grades 

20 it serves, any former student who wishes to at21 tend the school. 

22 (3) SCHOOL CLOSURE.—A school closure model 

23 is one in which the local educational agency— 

24 (A) closes a school and enrolls the students 

25 who attended such school in other public 


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1 schools served by the local educational agency 

2 that are higher performing, provided the other 

3 schools are within reasonable proximity to the 

4 closed school; and 

5 (B) provides information, in a timely fash6 ion, in the appropriate language, and prior to 

7 closing the school, to children who attended 

8 such closed school and their parents, about 

9 high-quality educational options and transition 

10 and support services. 

11 (4) TURNAROUND MODEL.—A turnaround 

12 model is one in which the local educational agency— 

13 (A) if the principal has led the school for 

14 2 or more years, replaces the principal with a 

15 new principal who has demonstrated effective16 ness in turning around a low-performing school; 

17 (B) gives the new principal sufficient oper18 ational flexibility (including over staffing, the 

19 school day and school calendar, and budgeting) 

20 to fully implement a comprehensive approach to 

21 improve student outcomes; 

22 (C) using comprehensive evaluation sys23 tems, including the use of student achievement 

24 data to measure the effectiveness of staff who 


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1 can work within the turnaround environment to 

2 meet the needs of students— 

3 (i) screens all existing staff and re4 tains not more than 50 percent of such 

5 staff; and 

6 (ii) requires the principal to justify 

7 personnel decisions, such as hiring, dis8 missal, and providing rewards, based on 

9 results of such evaluations; 

10 (D) provides staff with ongoing, high-qual11 ity, job-embedded professional development that 

12 is aligned with the school’s instructional pro13 gram, facilitates effective teaching and learning, 

14 and supports the implementation of school-re15 form strategies; 

16 (E) adopts a new governance structure for 

17 the school, which may include requiring the 

18 school to report to a new turnaround office in 

19 the local educational agency or State edu20 cational agency, hire a turnaround leader who 

21 reports directly to the Superintendent or Chief 

22 Academic Officer, or enter into a multi-year 

23 agreement with the local educational agency or 

24 State educational agency to obtain added flexi25 bility in exchange for greater accountability; 


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1 (F) uses data to identify and implement a 

2 research-based instructional program and pro3 motes the continuous use of data to evaluate 

4 school improvement strategies and to inform 

5 the differentiated instruction in order to meet 

6 the academic needs of individual students; 

7 (G) encourages the use of extended learn8 ing time partnerships; 

9 (H) establishes schedules and strategies 

10 that provide increased learning time, which may 

11 include offering full-day kindergarten or a high12 quality preschool program or using a longer 

13 school day, week, or year that increases the 

14 total number of school hours for the school year 

15 at a school by not fewer than 300 hours to sig16 nificantly increase the total number of school 

17 hours to include additional time for— 

18 (i) instruction in such core academic 

19 subjects as English, reading or language 

20 arts, mathematics, science, foreign lan21 guages, civics and government, economics, 

22 arts, history, and geography; 

23 (ii) instruction in other subjects and 

24 enrichment activities that contribute to a 

25 well-rounded education, such as physical 


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1 education, service learning, and experien2 tial and work-based learning opportunities 

3 that are provided by partnering, as appro4 priate, with other organizations; and 

5 (iii) teachers to collaborate, plan, and 

6 engage in professional development within 

7 and across grades and subjects; 

8 (I) provides ongoing mechanisms for family 

9 and community engagement; 

10 (J) provides appropriate social-emotional 

11 and community-oriented services and supports 

12 for students; and 

13 (K) may include any of the strategies de14 scribed in paragraph (1). 

15 (b) USING FUNDS FOR COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES

16 TO ADDRESS ISSUES.—In implementing any of the school 

17 intervention models described in subsection (a), the local 

18 educational agency— 

19 (1) shall identify and address issues that may 

20 contribute to low academic achievement in those 

21 schools; and 

22 (2) may use funds under this title to provide 

23 comprehensive services to address those issues and 

24 meet the full range of student needs. 


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1 SEC. 208. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this title $600,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 and such sums 

4 as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 

5 years. 

Æ 


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